The school has launched a new curriculum to train the next generation of brokers, appraisers and other industry professionals. Enrollment is growing quickly.

The number of students taking real estate courses nearly doubled — to 300 — between 2011 and 2012. The school plans to add more new courses by fall 2013.

Naveen Jindal School of Management officials said the growing real estate degree concentration comes at the right time for North Texas.

“The economy is picking up, and real estate is picking up. I think our timing is perfect,” Dr. Hasan Pirkul, dean of the Naveen Jindal School of Management and holder of the Caruth Chair of Management said at a recent ceremony to announce the real estate concentration.

UT Dallas introduced the curriculum at a Feb. 21 event attended by UT Dallas President David E. Daniel, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, about 100 alumni, and leaders in the real estate community. A dozen partners from some of the area’s leading commercial real estate firms hosted the President’s Gathering at the Park City Club.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings (center) and President Dr. David E. Daniel chat at the event where the new real estate curriculum was introduced.

Mayor Rawlings said the timing and location is right for the new courses. Dallas is one of the top three U.S. cities to recover from the recession, according to a Brookings Institution study, he said. Rawlings added that more than 1 million square feet of office space was under construction at end of 2012.

“The launch of the curriculum for real estate-based business by UT Dallas is a great idea,” Rawlings told officials. “You understand what’s needed, and now we’re able to train professionals to do it the right way.”

The school offered its first real estate course in 2011 after several alumni approached officials about the need for the subject area, said Dr. Randall S. Guttery, clinical professor of real estate and director of real estate programs for the Naveen Jindal School of Management.

Since then, the school has built on that foundation to now offer three undergraduate and three graduate courses in real estate concentrations. Courses are also taught by George DeCourcy, senior lecturer of finance and managerial economics and associate director of real estate programs.

A new undergraduate law and contracts course is planned this fall. The school offers the latest technology to prepare students for an increasingly sophisticated industry. Guttery said the school plans to work with the alumni who proposed and helped create the real estate curriculum to help the program continue to expand and adapt to the industry.

Dr. Randall S. Guttery, clinical professor of real estate and director of real estate programs, said the Jindal School will continue to work with alumni to improve and expand the program.

“We want this to be a partnership,” Guttery told local real estate leaders at the President's Gathering.

The school has created a scholarship fund and a separate fund to help students with expenses, such as travel to conferences, he added. The growing enrollment also has resulted in a new student-run Real Estate Club.

Mayor Rawlings said the new curriculum will benefit the city for many years to come.

“You’re really doing something that’s going to be here for generations,” he said. “We’re creating, hopefully, the city, the area, for the 21st century.”